Comment from Russian MNE spokeswoman Maria Zakharova regarding the bombing of the Galaktika shopping mall in Donetsk and other civilian infrastructure on Russian territory:

“On the afternoon of August 16, the AFU shelled the Galaktika shopping mall in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, which was full of visitors. There was a huge fire in the building. According to preliminary data, more than a hundred people were inside the mall at the time of the terrorist attack by the Kiev regime, including a large number of children. At the moment, the fire area has reached more than 10 thousand square meters.

There is no information about the exact number of victims, among which there are dead, but already now, based on media reports and videos of the large-scale fire, it is clear that there could be many of them. The situation around the Galaktika shopping center was exacerbated by the Ukrainian monsters’ attempts to launch drone attacks on rescuers arriving to put out the fire and doctors treating the injured.

The despicable attack on the shopping center is an act of terrorism carefully planned by Ukrainian neo-Nazis and a gesture of desperation by the Ukrainian armed forces in the face of the constant advance of Russian troops on the combat line.

Their goal is to kill civilians and sow panic. Furthermore, it is clear that Kiev has been given carte blanche by its Western handlers to commit as many atrocities against civilians as possible in order to undermine stability in our country.

On the same day, according to media reports and local residents, Ukrainian armed forces attacked and blew up a bridge over the Seim River in the Glushkovsky district of the Kursk region. Attacks on other civilian infrastructure are ongoing. It is quite clear that this is being done to hinder the evacuation of the civilian population from the combat zone, which the Kiev regime is making its priority target.

However, the Kiev regime’s brutality and terrorist methods are having the opposite effect — our citizens are rallying against the threat, and the number of volunteers willing to sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense and defend their homeland is only growing. growing.

We strongly condemn yet another barbaric terrorist attack by the Kiev regime. The Ukrainian criminals who committed the bombing of the shopping center in Donetsk and other attacks will certainly be identified by the investigation and will be severely punished for what they did. Our response will be as harsh as possible.

We call on the international community and international organizations not to remain indifferent and condemn the mass murder of innocent civilians in Donetsk.”

Continuing her speech later, Maria Zhakarova also spoke about the nuclear risk that Kursk runs due to terrorist compartments in Ukraine:

The Kiev regime has begun preparations for an attack on the Kursk nuclear power plant, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

“We call on international organizations, especially the UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency, to immediately condemn the provocative actions being prepared by the Kiev regime and prevent a violation of the nuclear and physical security of the Kursk nuclear power plant, which could lead to a large-scale catastrophe in Europe,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

“Moreover, these actions by Kiev not only pose a direct threat to nuclear power plants, but also undermine the IAEA’s nuclear safety postulates,” she added. She said that “the entire international community must realize the danger that the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev poses to the continent.” “Attempts to intimidate and terrorize entire regions and the international community as a whole must be resolutely opposed through joint efforts,” she concluded.